What started out as a pitchers' duel became a home run battle, as the Harvard men's baseball team defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders, 4-2, yesterday at Soldiers Field.

Freshman pitcher Mike Giardi, helped out by a strong defense, set the Crusaders down in order for the first five innings. During these innings, Giardi had three strikeouts, allowed one walk and gave up only one hit--in fact, only two balls reached the outfield through five. He received help from the infield, which turned three double plays in the game, and commited no errors.

The Harvard offense had a slower start. After yesterday's 23-4 destruction of Tufts, the team had to readjust to tougher pitching. It managed to shake up Holy Cross pitcher Jim Lielbler in the first inning when senior Marcel Durand drew a walk with two men out. Lielbler, feeling the threat of a man on, delivered two wild pitches, allowing Durand to advance to third base. The chance for an early Harvard lead was quenched however when Dan Scanlan, the eventual hero, struck out.

This strikeout started Lielbler on a roll--he struck out the side in the second inning, and put the Crimson to rest in order in the third as well.

"They were mowing us down pretty well," junior second baseman Jim Mrowka said. "But we had confidence in ourselves. It felt really good to be playing a competitive game after the other day [Tufts]."

"It was hard to get right into this game," sophomore right fielder Mike Hill said. "I noticed that the times we struck out, we were leaning forward on our front foot. We were kind of anxious to get hits like yesterday. We just had to remember to lean back a little and wait for the right pitch."

Hill had the first hit of the game, a single in the first inning, but was promptly picked off trying to steal second base. Harvard did not have much luck baserunning, as they were caught stealing second on two other occasions, both times with no outs.

"We're a pretty fast team, and some of those calls were questionable," Hill said. "But it's always really important to be aggressive. You can't just rely on the big hits."

But Harvard did end up coming through with those big hits. It was a late-inning home run which gave the Crimson the victory.

Harvard started its scoring in the fourth inning. Lielbler issued three walks to load the bases for freshman catcher Dave Morgan. Morgan belted a single, scoring Durand from third base but the Crusaders caught sophomore Pat Hegarty rounding third to end the inning.

They picked up another run in the fifth to go up two. Following a walk to sophomore Juan Zurate, Lielbler gave up a double to Mrowka, allowing Zurate to score.

As the weather got a little chillier in the later innings, the Crimson lost some of their heat, and let the sixth and seventh innings go by without any runs.

Holy Cross took advantage of the Harvard lull to grab two runs, one in the seventh and one in the eighth to tie the game. The first was a Stefvan Drezek solo home run over the left field fence, and the second came on two hits and a sacrifice fly.

The Crimson did not allow Holy Cross much time to enjoy their comeback, as Harvard broke it open for once and for all in the bottom of the eighth. Hill led of the inning with a double, and Durand pushed him to third with a sacrifice bunt. Scanlan drove the ball over the center field fence to pick up two RBI's, including the game winner. Junior pitcher Peter Rau came in to get the save in the ninth inning.

"Our 6-10 record doesn't reflect our ability," Hill said.